Married People

David Laws: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many married couples  (a) are both over the age of 65,  (b) are both in work,  (c) are living apart,  (d) have no children and  (e) have one or more children under the age of five; and if she will make a statement.

Angela Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated January 2010:
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on how many married couples (a) are both over the age of 65, (b) are both in work, (c) are living apart, (d) have no children and (e) have one or more children under the age of five; and if she will make a statement. (310671)
	The latest, available information requested is given in the table attached. The figures are from ONS's Annual Population Survey (APS) household datasets for the period January to December 2008. Information on the number of couples living apart is not collected and is therefore not presented.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty as different samples could give different results.
	
		
			  Table:1 Number of married couples( 1)  by various characteristics, United Kingdom, January to December 2008 
			   Number of people (thousand) 
			 Number of married couples 12,170 
			  of whom  
			 both are over the age of 65 2,060 
			 both are in employment 5,270 
			 have no children 6,040 
			 have one or more children under the age of five 1,730 
			 (1) Excludes cohabiting and same sex couples.  Source:  APS household datasets (ONS).

Unemployment: Older Workers

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people over 50 years old in  (a) the UK,  (b) England,  (c) the North East and  (d) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency are in receipt of jobseeker's allowance.

Angela Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated January 2010:
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people over 50 years old in (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) the North East and (d) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency are on jobseeker's allowance. 311349.
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles the number of claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) from the Jobcentre Plus administrative system.
	Table 1 shows the number of people aged 50 years and over, claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in the UK, England, the North East and Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland for November 2009, the latest date for which data is available.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			  Table 1. Number of people aged 50 years and over claiming  jobseeker's allowance 
			   Number 
			 United Kingdom 239,545 
			 England 201,675 
			 North East 12,785 
			 Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland 425 
			  Note: Data rounded to nearest five.  Source: Jobcentre Plus administrative system.